‘Marvel’s The Punisher’: Everything We Know About Netflix’s Killer New Show

After years of buildup, it finally happened: the Defenders defended New York City from a massive threat. But if you think the Netflix side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is slowing down now that Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist have all teamed up and (mostly) made nice, think again! There’s a lot–and I mean a lot–more Marvel coming to Netflix in the next year. The gritty streets of Marvel’s New York City are about to get really crowded.

The next series in Netflix’s popular superhero line is Marvel’s The Punisher. The Punisher is actually the first spinoff series ordered by Netflix. Before the series was announced, fans weren’t sure if Netflix would create series beyond the five that were all announced in tandem back in February 2014. It was entirely possible that we’d get Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders–and then that’d be it.

That didn’t happen, of course, and Netflix added The Punisher to their lineup, potentially paving the way for more spinoffs starring characters introduced in the other Netflix shows. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s focus on the Punisher, since he’s locked, loaded, and ready to go.

Who is The Punisher?

Created by Gerry Conway, John Romita, and Ross Andru and initially introduced as a villain in 1974’s Amazing Spider-Man #129, the Punisher gradually became a mainstay of the Marvel Comics universe. The gruff, grim, gun-toting vigilante crossed paths with Spider-Man and Daredevil a bunch in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and then graduated into a leading character with the release of The Punisher #1 in 1986. The Punisher’s been a headliner ever since.

After a trio of less-than-successful feature films, the character finally got the adaptation diehard fans have been waiting for when he appeared in 2016’s Daredevil Season 2 on Netflix. Jon Bernthal, known for his darkly intense performances in The Walking Dead and Fury, stepped into the role of Frank Castle, an ex-Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps molded into an expert sniper and hand-to-hand combatant by tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon returning to his home in New York City and reuniting with his wife and children, the life he knew was destroyed when his family was caught in the crossfire of a three-way gang shootout in Central Park. With his family dead, Castle devoted his entire existence to extreme vengeance–and his bloody methodology brought him into conflict with the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

During the course of Daredevil Season 2, Castle was arrested, tried, and jailed for his killing spree. He fought his way out of prison (with the help of Daredevil’s archenemy Wilson Fisk) and continued his fight, even becoming close to journalist and Daredevil’s almost-girlfriend Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll). When last we saw Castle in Daredevil Season 2, he had donned his iconic Punisher symbol, stocked up on weapons, and used his sniping skills to help Daredevil with his boss battle.

Who is in Marvel’s The Punisher?

You can’t have a Marvel Netflix show without a killer supporting cast! Here’s who’s who (as far as we know) in the upcoming Punisher Season 1.

• Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle: Obviously, his name is the title of the show!
• Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page: After becoming close to Page during DDS2, the New York Bulletin reporter will have a role to play in Punisher.
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Micro: The Girls alum will play the Punisher’s quasi-sidekick Micro, a computer whiz that helps run the vigilante’s missions. Originally an ace computer hacker in the comics, Micro is now described as a former NSA analyst. Jaime Ray Newman (Eureka) plays his wife Sarah Lieberman.
• Ben Barnes as Billy Russo: Barnes jumps from Westworld to Marvel’s The Punisher, where he will play Frank’s best bud from his military days who is now the head of a private military corporation. If you know the comics, though, there’s a pretty decent chance he’s gonna turn into the heavily-scarred super villain Jigsaw (Billy Russo’s alter-ego in the comics) over the course of Season 1.
• Amber Rose Revah as Dinah Madani and Michael Nathanson as Sam Stein: Madani and Stein are two Department of Homeland Security agents that’ll be hot on Frank Castle’s trail. Shohreh Aghdashloo will have a recurring role as Dinah’s mother Farah, a psychiatrist. None of these characters have comic counterparts, so who knows where their stories are going.
• Daniel Webber as Lewis Walcott: Not much is known about Walcott, played by 11.22.63’s Webber, other than the fact that he’s a young veteran.
• Jason R. Moore as Curtis Hoyle and Paul Schulze as Rawlins: Hoyle and Rawlins are two minor supporting players from the comics, brought to life on the Netflix series. Hoyle is an ally of the Punisher, while Rawlins is a CIA agent.
• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, known for her Broadway career and roles in Scarface and The Color of Money, will also appear in the series in an unrevealed role.

Orchestrating this mayhem as executive producer and showrunner is Steve Lightfoot, one of the main brains behind NBC’s critically-acclaimed drama Hannibal.

What have we seen so far?

Netflix held off on releasing any Punisher footage to the public until the very end of The Defenders. Episode 8 of that series had a post-credits teaser trailer for The Punisher that was later dropped online.

Last week, Netflix gave fans a second sneak peek at the series via what might be the show’s opening credits sequence.

We’ve also seen all the episode titles for Season 1, albeit in Morse code. On August 28, the Punisher Twitter account started tweeting a bunch of stuff that looks like this:

That code has since been cracked, and we now know that the 13 episode titles are as follows:

• 3 am
• Two Dead Men
• Kandahar
• Resupply
• Gunner
• The Judas Goat
• Crosshairs
• Cold Steel
• Front Toward Enemy
• Virtue of the Vicious
• Danger Close
• Home
• Memento Mori

When is The Punisher hitting Netflix?

The 13-episode season filmed in New York City from October 2016 to April 2017, meaning it should be ready to stream ASAP–but Netflix hasn’t given it a release date yet. The credits-style video from last week confirmed it will arrive in 2017, but stopped short of assigning a specific date. According to our calculations, the Marvel/Netflix shows debut around 54 days after the first teaser hits; that means Punisher could debut as early as October 13. But considering Netflix’s busy October schedule (Stranger Things Season Two!), it’s possible Punisher will arrive in early-to-mid November.

We will make sure to update this post as soon as Punisher’s release date is revealed.

UPDATE (10/19/17): Netflix has announced that Season 1 of The Punisher will arrive on November 17, 2017.